Re: Field Marshal Games Pieces Project Discussion thread

[Imperious Leader]

I am in favor of redoing the entire army line because FMG will now be in a position to supply any game company with pieces for multiple game projects. I think people who cannot get past the hurdle of getting proper pieces made can now step up and make games complete by buying lots of sets and reselling them. This will improve the hobby and raise the standard of quality because a new clear choice is now available, when before people were stick buying just AA pieces, but these will be better and WOTC will have to now answer to the people for reckless decisions and cant horde the piece market like a czar.

So FFG is a restoration movement for choice given the current choice is WOTC or nothing, because frankly Xeno pieces are an abomination.

I hope they do an assortment of pieces for Napoleonic, American Civil War, and WW1.

[HannibalSW]

I would buy two sets for sure, and if all goes well with my promotion possibly four sets.  I really would like to see this succeed.  I’ll try to hit up some of the hobby stores I frequent and get the word out and wherever else I know AA players congregate.

[d142]

if the project is a success, would there be one print of these pieces, or would the sets be available at the field marshall games website

[FieldMarshalGames]

@d142:

if the project is a success, would there be one print of these pieces, or would the sets be available at the field marshall games website

We will carry them on our site also.  This is a “community” project so it will start here.  The on site price may be higher dependent on final cost.  The AAA.org pre-order price will be $59.99.

[d142]

that is a very alluring offer,
when can i expect to see sample’s of the market place product,
i would think that a project of this scale would take month’s to complete,
have the pieces been sculpted yet, i would think that the factory would need a large order for a set that includes up to 100 different sculpts,
i would be happy to invest in such a project,
however, i would prefer to see some ground work before i would invest,
what i would like to have in place before i would invest would be a estimate of the number of investors,
if the interest was sufficient, the project could be guaranteed by the pre-order, if there were enough interested would-be investors the crediting of the project would be less of a risk, and that would save a lot of work to refund the investors if the cost of the project could not be achieved,
i am not one to credit something without a guarantee of a refund, or a finished product,
i.e. a new set of boardgame pieces,
i think that it is a great project, and i hope that it is successful,
i would think that there are thousands of board gamers who would jump at the opportunity to have a finely detailed, durable, and classy set of pieces manufactured to a high standard,
i checked out the dice at field marshall games, correct me if i am wrong, i think that the russia dice were pink,
i would not buy pink toy soldiers, and to have to paint them would be a chore, one set painted, the other set not,
i would not be one to pay $59.99 for a finished marketplace product and have to spend 1-2 years painting the pieces before i could play with them,
i am not a good miniature painter

[Adlertag]

@TG:

For the unenlightened, what are Task Force Markers?

[Monroe]

I’m a lock for one set.  Likely buy 2-3.

[Hubbe]

I’m in for one set…. possibly two

[AG124]

I will definitely buy at least one set if the quality is what I am currently expecting it to be. 8-)

However, I do need more information from FMG first, (although I realize you/FMG may not yet be in a position to supply said information):

• What units have been ultimately chosen for each unit of each nation?

• How many moulds, if any, will have to be shared, and which ones for which nations?

• What level of detail can actually be expected (although I assume from this thread higher than the current plastic units)?

• What quality plastic can be expected (although I gather from this thread that it is at least as good as that of WoTC?

• What will the colours look like when applied to the actual plastic from which the units will be made? Will they look exactly as the colours of the dice, including appearance in terms of hue and lightness?

• What colour has been chosen for Italy?

• Will our discussion re unit choices be factored in your actual choice of units for the set?

And of course, eventually, I would like very much to see a prototype or prototypes of some type.

[Imperious Leader]

somebody do a pool– nation by nation for land, sea, and air pieces. Start with Russia first.

[d142]

russia / armor /T34/ fighter /sturmovik/ artillery /ZIS/ infantry /mosin nagant/

i do not have great knowledge of the russia navy from ww2, i have seen some pictures of aircraft carriers, and what look like cruiser class ships

[FieldMarshalGames]

@AG124:

I will definitely buy at least one set if the quality is what I am currently expecting it to be. 8-)

However, I do need more information from FMG first, (although I realize you/FMG may not yet be in a position to supply said information):

• What units have been ultimately chosen for each unit of each nation?

• How many moulds, if any, will have to be shared, and which ones for which nations?

• What level of detail can actually be expected (although I assume from this thread higher than the current plastic units)?

• What quality plastic can be expected (although I gather from this thread that it is at least as good as that of WoTC?

• What will the colours look like when applied to the actual plastic from which the units will be made? Will they look exactly as the colours of the dice, including appearance in terms of hue and lightness?

• What colour has been chosen for Italy?

• Will our discussion re unit choices be factored in your actual choice of units for the set?

And of course, eventually, I would like very much to see a prototype or prototypes of some type.

To answer some of these questions above:

1. We are still in the process of obtaining sculpts for all the units.  We can’t show prototypes YET as we have only priced out the mould and production cost with our factory.  Once I have MORE sculpts I will post them here

2)The level of detail will be BETTER than the current WOTC units. The plastic quality will be the same or BETTER than current units.

3. The only moulds that will be shared are most likley the Russian and US Aircraft Carrier.  The Russians will also use the US LIBERTY SHIP as a transport.  Russian Naval sculpts are limited but this is still BETTER than the current units where ALL Russian Naval units are copies.  All other Nations will have SPECIFIC sculpts for each unit!

4. Colors will match COMBAT DICE.  (Russia is not PINK! Im sure some of you can vouch for that).  See other COMBAT DICE pictures on the FMG site under AXIS & ALLIES CUSTOM SETS and you will see the correct colors. http://www.fieldmarshalgames.com/board-games/axis-allies/field-marshal-combat-dice/field-marshal-combat-dice-axis-allies-custom-sets.html

5. A Dark Brown has been chosen for ITALY.  The USSR / ITALY color contrast will be more than it is now.

6. Of course the wishes of the community will be taken into account before the mould is finalized.  Dependent on the availability of sculpts.  See link to other thread above where this project originated and many ideas where presented.

[FieldMarshalGames]

POSSIBLE SCULPT FOR ITALIAN NAVY

ITALIAN CA - AQUILA CLASS
ITALIAN CR - ZARA CLASS
ITALIAN BB - LITTORIO CLASS

[d142]

wow, those sculpts look impressive, how many fighters does the carrier hold, i have some house rules that allow carriers to carry 3 fighters, are they exactly to the scale of wotc pieces,
i have been looking through my axis and allies game pieces, and have found nothing to compare to those sculpts,
although the pictures of the sculpts are not clear, they appear of a very high manufacturing standard,
if i walked into a shop and found those i would purchase a set

[Krieghund]

One thing that’s going to be important is the relative size of the ship models.  They’re too close together in the AH molds, mostly because the battleships and destroyers came first, then the cruisers were squeezed into the middle.  Starting from scratch, you can get this right from the beginning and avoid some player confusion.

[AG124]

@ FMG - Thank you for the reply; everything sounds encouraging at this stage, I must say. 8-)

If you are looking for ideas for Soviet WWII Carriers, here is a thread from the AAM Forumini I remember from a little while back; it also discusses Italian and French carrier designs, but there are a good number of Soviet designs at the top of the first post. Of course, none of these designs was ever laid down, someone actually purchasing a Soviet carrier piece to use in A&A could be analogous to the Soviets actually spending time and resources building one of these in RL (of course, getting someone to make a mould for one of these for your set is another task).

In terms of appearance only, I would prefer “Project 72,” if only for its distinctiveness from carriers produced by other nations during this period:

Kostromitinov:

Project 72:

Project 71:

Link (check the top/first post):

http://aaminis.myfastforum.org/about5369.html&highlight=soviet

EDIT - @ FMG; I noticed that those Italian ship moulds you posted actually came from Panzerschiffe; a company which makes 1/2400 scale warships. Will you be using Panzerschiffe models as a basis for your own molds (albeit with some detail changes to avoid copyright infringement), or are you just posting these as an example? Thanks.

[Imperious Leader]

Id make all the naval units the same size by type, so the battleships are exactly the same, cruisers have their own size, etc.  just keep the scale just like AA so both types of sets are compatible with each other. Thats where you will make alot of sales because people will just replace entire sets with your set, much like Chess players have different sets depending on what type of game ( tournament, home study,friends house, etc) is being played.

Except the submarine needs to not look like a toothpick, but more like the old MB AA sub, so it can stand up easily. The German subs are horrible looking IMO.

[Adlertag]

@Imperious:

Except the submarine needs to not look like a toothpick, but more like the old MB AA sub, so it can stand up easily. The German subs are horrible looking IMO.

I love the A&A subs, but agree that the german sub dont stand up easily. But look at the subs from Jeff’s the Wargame, they looks like a flatfish standing up, now is that better than a toothpick ?

[Imperious Leader]

No its not Jeffs subs are terrible because they don’t stand up. I am tired of pieces that don’t stand up when its the easiest thing to fix and yet its never fixed. The UK infantry is stooped as well.

MB subs were perfect IMO

[Black Fox]

Id make all the naval units the same size by type, so the battleships are exactly the same, cruisers have their own size, etc.  just keep the scale just like AA so both types of sets are compatible with each other. Thats where you will make alot of sales because people will just replace entire sets with your set, much like Chess players have different sets depending on what type of game ( tournament, home study,friends house, etc) is being played.

Except the submarine needs to not look like a toothpick, but more like the old MB AA sub, so it can stand up easily. The German subs are horrible looking IMO.

I’m with IL on this!  Ship classes should have their own distinct size and not made to exact scale for ease of identification.

AG124 -  Nice find!  I like carrier on the top.

wow, those sculpts look impressive, how many fighters does the carrier hold,

D142 - Where are the pictures of the sculpts?  I didn’t see any.